Michelle Singletary, in her Washington Post/Bloomberg column, says that she was jaded when Occupy Wall Street began because it was so haphazard. But she is no longer jaded. She quotes advocates who say that the protests will likely not abate because they represent people's frustrations in dealing with politicians, government entities and corporations that are not providing jobs.

Even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has expressed sympathy with those on the streets.

"They blame, with some justification, the problems in the financial sector for getting us into this mess, and they're dissatisfied with the policy response here in Washington, and at some level I can’t blame them," Bernanke told Congress's Joint Economic Committee on Tuesday when he was asked what he thought of the movement.

President Obama also weighed in on the protests during his news conference Thursday.

There's been "huge collateral damage all throughout the country, all across Main Street," he said.